Impact Analysis

This vulnerability allows any authenticated user to download files from directories outside the designated download directory if those directories have paths with the same prefix as the download directory. This leads to unauthorized disclosure of files that should not be accessible, potentially exposing sensitive or private data. The impact is a data leak due to directory traversal, but the severity is rated low with no direct impact on confidentiality, integrity, or availability beyond unauthorized file access. [3]

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Detection Guidance

Detection of this vulnerability involves monitoring for unauthorized file download attempts using path traversal patterns in the GET /download/ endpoint. Specifically, look for HTTP requests with filenames containing absolute paths, '../', or URL-encoded traversal sequences targeting sibling directories of the download directory. Since the vulnerability requires authentication, review authenticated GET requests to /download/ with suspicious path parameters. There are no specific commands provided in the resources, but you can use network monitoring tools or web server logs to filter requests matching these patterns, for example using grep or similar tools on access logs: grep -E 'GET /download/.*(\.\.|%2e%2e|%252e%252e|/|\\)' access.log. Additionally, verify the MobSF version; versions prior to 4.4.1 are vulnerable. [3]

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Mitigation Strategies

The immediate mitigation step is to upgrade MobSF to version 4.4.1 or later, where the vulnerability has been patched by improving path validation and restricting file downloads to the intended directory. If upgrading is not immediately possible, restrict access to the GET /download/ endpoint to trusted users only, and monitor for suspicious download requests. Additionally, review and harden any custom path validation logic to prevent absolute paths and path traversal sequences. Applying the official patch or update is the recommended and most effective mitigation. [2, 3]

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Executive Summary

CVE-2025-58161 is a path traversal vulnerability in MobSF version 4.4.0 affecting the GET /download/<filename> endpoint. The application uses a flawed path verification method based on os.path.commonprefix, which compares string prefixes rather than actual directory boundaries. This allows an authenticated user to download files outside the intended download directory (DWD_DIR) from sibling directories whose absolute paths share the same initial string prefix as DWD_DIR (e.g., downloads_bak or downloads.old). The vulnerability arises because absolute paths or crafted filenames bypass the directory restriction, enabling unauthorized file access. This issue was fixed in version 4.4.1. [3]

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